Squeaky if not clean

The government's crude ways may be worse than the sins it seeks to extirpate

THOSE who predicted that the Polish government would drop the dramatics and fade gracefully from view in the run-up to a general election next month have been proved spectacularly wrong. A cloak-and-dagger operation at the end of August led to the arrests of a former interior minister, a former chief of police and the chief executive of Poland's largest insurer. They were made, dramatically enough, by balaclava-clad special forces.

The evidence for the arrests suggested that Janusz Kaczmarek, who until his dismissal as interior minister in early August was a close ally of President Lech Kaczynski, was involved in a leak that led to the failure of a sting operation by a state anti-corruption agency. The three men have now been released on bail, but Jaromir Netzel, chief executive of the PZU insurance company, has been sacked. A warrant has been issued for a rich businessmen, Ryszard Krauze, who is abroad.

Many questions remain. One is why the former chief of police, Konrad Kornatowski, was detained just before he gave evidence to a parliamentary committee. He might yet confirm claims by Mr Kaczmarek that political rivals and critical journalists were illegally put under surveillance on the orders of the justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro. Another concern is that the office of prosecutor-general is part of the justice portfolio. Critics say Mr Ziobro, who is close to the prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, is too partisan for the role.

There are broader worries about the undermining of judicial independence since the Kaczynski brothers' party, Law and Justice, took power two years ago. They set up the state anti-corruption agency, whose operation to expose the dealings of a coalition partner has led to demands for a parliamentary investigation. Roman Giertych, leader of another former coalition party, accuses Law and Justice of employing “Soviet methods”. The prime minister retorts that the government has been acting “like a good surgeon” cutting out “diseased tissue”.

The Kaczynskis may have been right to try to rid Polish public life of post-communist sleaze. But they have failed, so far, to come up with evidence for the existence of an all-encompassing network of corrupt businesspeople, politicians and communist spooks, the uklad, which they say has ruled Poland since 1989. And their methods have sometimes smacked more of a witch-hunt than of due process.

The latest arrests may have had a political motive. The governor's insistence that protection of the rich and powerful has ended resonates with voters. For the first time in a year, a poll has just put Law and Justice ahead of the largest opposition party, the liberal Civic Platform. This puts the opposition in an awkward dilemma: whether to vote to keep a government it is eager to oust, or to back an early election it now risks losing.

An early election and a change of government still look the most likely outcome of all this. But Law and Justice could yet ride back into power on a wave of populist support. Democracy in eastern Europe remains a learning process. But Poland's ruling party may not prove to have been the best of teachers.